“For some time, I enjoyed this scene with malicious and demure gravity, and then I showed him that he must try and pull it off over his head. A lad, who stood by, then drew it till it enveloped his nose, eyes, mouth, and ears; his arms were raised above his head, and for some minutes he remained in that melancholy plight, blinded, choked, and smothered, with his hands rendered useless for the time. He rolled about, sneezing, sputtering, and struggling, until all around were convulsed with laughter; and the squaws shrieked, in their ungovernable mirth, in a manner that I had never before witnessed. At length I slit a piece of the edge, and released the old fellow from his straight-waistcoat confinement. He turned it round often in his hands, and made a kind of comic-grave address to it, of which I could only gather a few words. I believe the import of them was, that it would be a ‘good creature in the ice-month at the village.’ I was so pleased with his good humor, that I gave it to him, and told him to warm his squaw with it in the ice-month.”
Mr. Murray gives us, also, the following sketch.
“On the 6th, I rode out with Captain Hunter to the Kickapoo village, which is about five miles from the fort. The Kickapoos are a branch of the great northern nation of Indians, which includes the Potawatomies, the Chippewas, and other numerous tribes. Their former territory has been bought by the United States, and this tract of country, along the southern bank of the Missouri, allotted in its stead; beside which, the United States engaged to supply them, for a certain time, with a stipulated quantity of provisions, clothes, &c. Living so near the settlements, they have lost most of the traits of their original character, and are a reduced, debased race; nevertheless, they are now interesting in a religious point of view. A miniature Mahomet has arisen among them, and the tribe is divided into two sects, the religious and irreligious; these are pretty equal in number, and the former acknowledge and obey, as secular chief, the prophet who teaches the new creed. This man preaches very good and enlightened morality. He pretends to have seen the Great Spirit in a vision, and to have received his command to proclaim his truths and precepts to the Indians. I should have been astonished at the excellence of his doctrine, and the soundness of his religious views, if I had not learned from a gentleman, long resident among them, the fountain from which he drew his knowledge. It appears, that, when very young, he learned the English language thoroughly, and, in remote parts of the State of Illinois, attended many Christian meetings. He thus became acquainted with the outlines of the Christian scheme, and with the morality which the Bible inculcates; and afterward grafting the knowledge thus acquired upon his Indian prejudices and superstitions, he has used it as an engine of personal aggrandizement, and become priest, prophet, and chief of half his nation.